


Motions

by Ladybug_21



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Dancing Lessons, F/M, Tango
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-14 13:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19274260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladybug_21/pseuds/Ladybug_21
Summary: It takes two toclarify, to the court's satisfaction, any confusion surrounding the simple procedural matter of learning how totango.





	Motions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shiguresflower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiguresflower/gifts).



> Shiguresflower is one of the biggest "West Wing" fans I know, and by _far_ the biggest tango fan I know, so this one is for you, friend. Thanks for introducing me to even just the basics of tango, which provided the impetus for this fic. This is also something of a spin-off of my (extremely long) fic _[Amici Curiae](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9219044)_ , since I tossed into the penultimate chapter a reference to Evie and Chris going on a work trip to Buenos Aires together — not knowing that, years later, it would play into this scenario rather perfectly.
> 
> All rights belong to Aaron Sorkin and the other creators of this incredible show.

"I still can't believe you convinced me to do this."

"When in Buenos Aires," Chris shrugged, quirking half a smile at his colleague.

The Chief Justice sighed as she pulled off her pumps and strapped on a pair of bright red tango shoes that would have made Josh Lyman weep in adoration.

"Might I remind you that we're here for a judicial exchange, and not for tango classes?" she grumbled as Chris chivalrously held out a hand and helped her to her feet.

"And, given the nexus between law and culture, I don't see why we shouldn't partake of such a quintessentially Argentine activity in our free time."

"I just don't want to look like an uncoordinated, incompetent buffoon in front of actual Argentinians who have spent their lives immersed in this," Evie muttered.

Chris had dragged Evie to three tango classes back in Washington, and he had hoped that she would have taken to this by now.  But he could understand why the Chief Justice, ever the perfectionist, would be anxious about dancing in front of seasoned  _tangueros_.  Other couples at this  _milonga_ were already warming up, gliding across the room pressed cheek to cheek, stepping around each other in flourishes of footwork, their toes tracing languid and invisible arcs across the polished wood in loose time to the passionate accordion-and-piano music throbbing from the stereo in the corner.

"You don't look like an uncoordinated, incompetent buffoon," Chris reassured Evie as he led her out onto the dance floor.

"That's very kind of you to say."

"It's true," Chris insisted.  "Don't you trust me?"

"Of course."

"Well."

Chris held out his arms, and Evie sighed and slotted herself rigidly into his embrace.  He suppressed a laugh and shook them both slightly from side to side, in a gentle effort to get Evie to loosen up.

"You don't have to be  _quite_  so tense," he reminded her, moving his balance from foot to foot.  "This whole dancing business is all about motion, remember?"

"Well, in this case, I'm granting my own motion to dismiss," Evie said, glancing self-consciously at the surrounding dancers.

"Denied," Chris replied, pulling Evie towards him just a little bit to dissuade her from retreating back to the sidelines.  "And I'll submit to you a motion to set aside judgment. I  _promise_ that no one besides me is watching you right now."

Evie looked less than convinced, but she nodded.

"You're a musician — just try to feel the music, right?  And lean into my embrace just a touch... not so much that you're off-balance, just so you can feel how I'm shifting my weight and where I'm going."

"Evermore to the right, I assume," Evie joked, but she did her best to comply.

Just to prove her wrong, Chris took a slow step to his left and Evie's right, then began to push her back into a series of controlled steps.

"You know what other advice I found really helpful, when I first started learning tango?" he added.  "Try not to think too much."

"Easier said than done, given our line of work," Evie scoffed.

Chris swiveled his torso slightly, and Evie, resisting, crashed into his arm.

"Backwards  _ochos_ ," he reminded her.

"Right, that's the..."  Evie furrowed her brow, trying to remember how this sequence of steps worked, then shook her head.

"Am I not signaling well enough?" Chris asked, worried.

"I think you're signaling fine," she reassured him.  "I just don't know how to read what you're trying to tell me."

"That's all just practice.  Here, what do you feel intuitively when I turn like this...?"

He repeated the movement, and Evie pursed her lips, then shook her head again.

"I don't know, Chris.  This isn't a language that I speak."

"Well, let's put it into a language that you do speak."  Evie waited patiently within Chris's arms while he tried to think up a good metaphor.  "All right.  Let's say you're an up-and-coming young hotshot of an attorney, appearing in court before an utterly intractable judge.  And you go into oral argument with a very clear theory for your case..."

"What kind of case are we talking about?" Evie challenged him.

"Doesn't matter.  Motion for summary judgment, something routine.  The point is, you're putting forward your best arguments, but the judge isn't having any of it, and he keeps on asking you questions designed to trip you up — to block you from getting your point across, as it were.  What do you do?  Crash right into him when he gets in your way, like a linebacker?"

Evie grinned up at Chris.

"You pivot," she replied.  "You address the question as quickly as you can, and then you quickly swivel to a related point that plays much more in your side's favor."

"Exactly.  So, tango.  If I move my arm out like this, and that means that you can't go in the direction that you thought you were going to be able to go..."

"I pivot," Evie said, doing just that, "and temporarily reorient the thrust of my argument based on the new direction you've given me."

"Exactly," Chris said, stepping along with Evie as she slid her leg backwards into the  _ocho_.  "I'm going to keep on reorienting you, but you're still in control of stepping, once I do.  You can embellish your argument with a rhetorical hook, if you want..."

Evie kicked her heel up so that her leg caught under Chris's thigh behind her; she swiveled out of the  _gancho_ with an amused smile and let Chris guide her a few steps forward.

"And keep pressing my new line until you stop me," she concluded, as Chris pivoted, pressed her backwards a few steps, then paused.

" _Cruce_ ," Chris commented, and Evie complied, bringing one ankle over the other as she drew her legs together.  "Perfect."

"Still is taking me too long to figure out when you're going for that."  Evie sighed, shaking her head slightly.  "I'm just not feeling it intuitively."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Chris reminded her.  "You didn't learn civil procedure in a day, after all.  So, coming off with your weight on your other leg..."

"I just need to keep going, but not parallel to how I was proceeding before, thanks to your cross-examination," Evie teased him, stepping backwards on the other foot.  "Well, this is all making much more sense."

"Good."  Chris was tickled to see that Evie really did look like she was having fun by now, the experienced Argentine couples around them apparently forgotten in the heat of the moment.  "And if I pause and give you a little bit of room to expand upon your argument..."

"Forward  _ochos_ ," Evie finished, and Chris opened up to his right so that Evie could do just that, spinning halfway round on each step that she took to his side and back.  "My chance to really dazzle the court with some flair."

She raised her eyebrows mischievously at Chris as she returned to his embrace and they fell back into a basic step.

"Well?" he asked.

"I think I've just learned that I was a much more competent trial attorney than I'll ever be a dancer.  But that was helpful, and, I'll concede, pretty fun."

"Glad to hear it.  One more thing?"

"Mmm?"

"You're not supposed to talk in the middle of a  _tanda_ ," Chris whispered into her ear.  "We're supposed to communicate using only our bodies.  No words."

"Well."  Evie smiled as she closed their embrace and pressed her cheek against her colleague's shoulder.  "Now that you've taught me how to read and interpret your every movement almost as easily as any legal motion, I think that I can manage that."

And the two Justices navigated their way through the space, silently carrying on a conversation they had begun long ago, in a private language whose starts and stops and gives and takes only they could fully understand.


End file.
